10 Nov 2020

Covid-19 vaccine may be available for 750k NZers in early 2021

From Checkpoint, 5:22 pm on 10 November 2020

New Zealand could have enough Covid-19 vaccine for three quarters of a million people by early next year; so who will get it first and what about everybody else.

American drug company Pfizer has announced its coronavirus vaccine appears to be more than 90 percent effective.

New Zealand already has a deal with the company to buy 1.5 million doses - enough for 750,000 people - subject to it passing clinical trials and MedSafe's approval.

Our medicines watchdog has started reviewing early clinical trial results to help speed up that process but government says the vaccine will still have to go through all the usual safety checks before MedSafe makes its final recommendation.

Minister for Research Science and Innovation, Megan Woods explains who will get it first.